So very happy to hear this news. It's too bad that Alcatraz will most likely be cancelled, but if it means that we get Fringe for one last season I'm not going to complain.

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Yeah, I'll go with that sentiment. I had hoped that both shows would get a renewal, but if I have to choose one, I'll go with Fringe... I have more invested in it, I suppose. I know I'm in the minority where Alcatraz is concerned, but I was getting hooked on it.

So, let's hope that with 13 eps after the May 11 finale, they can craft a truly satisfying ending for this show. I'm guessing that S5 will have more to do with the future as shown last week.

I would have been very happy about it - until this last episode with the future containing the bizarro nazi-wannabe Observers. Some have speculated that this future timeline will continue throughout the season, alternating between current and future episodes. Ugh.

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This whole season has been setting up the future timeline, so yeah, it will continue. The casting sheet for Etta specified that the character would be recurring if the show continued into a fifth year.

DS9 is the only series I can think of that actually had a solid final season and pulled together a series worth of pieces together in a smart satisfying way--where even if it was done on the fly it made sense ultimately in how it all came together.

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I can think of one other show, and that's the one that DS9 was always compared to - Babylon 5. Both had great arcs with an apparent end in mind, and the execution of the larger percentage of their episodes was top-notch. I'd rank both shows in my top five.

DS9 is the only series I can think of that actually had a solid final season and pulled together a series worth of pieces together in a smart satisfying way--where even if it was done on the fly it made sense ultimately in how it all came together.

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I can think of one other show, and that's the one that DS9 was always compared to - Babylon 5. Both had great arcs with an apparent end in mind, and the execution of the larger percentage of their episodes was top-notch. I'd rank both shows in my top five.

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I definitely agree with you about Babylon 5 - that show was fantastic. Though I never watched it when i was younger I got into it about a year ago and watched the entire thing, absolutely fantastic storytelling. I haven't watched DS9 in its entirety, but from what I have seen it is some great storytelling, and I did enjoy the finale.

Though Voyager will always be my favourite Trek series I can understand why people say that it left threads hanging, because the television series did. I read the novels that take place post-Endgame and I feel like a lot of those threads were tied up there.

However, I think that that final image of Voyager heading towards Earth is an iconic image.

But back to Fringe, I'm just hoping that this final season is enough to wrap Fringe up properly so that there are no loose ends (like I mentioned with the Voyager finale).

Well, I'm glad it's renewed. I'm glad that FOX is giving them the chance to finish telling the story instead of chopping it with no real conclusion.

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I used to feel that way but after a slew of really disappointing crappy endings I've now moved into the camp thinking that a cancellation is a good thing for a tv show these days allowing it to avoid the weak endings so many shows have--The X-Files, LOST, nBSG, Heroes etc.

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Oi, thanks for reminding me. Of those, the X-Files and nBSG probably have to rank as the worst final seasons for a show, primarily because TPTB had no fucking clue how to close all their loose ends.

Of those, the X-Files and nBSG probably have to rank as the worst final seasons for a show, primarily because TPTB had no fucking clue how to close all their loose ends.

1. nBSG
2. X-Files
3. Heroes
4. Lost

I wonder how others would rank them...

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I never watched X-Files or Heroes, but I enjoyed the final runs of nBSG and Lost immensely. Both stayed true to the mythos that were set up in earlier seasons. Many people disagree with that, but the clues were there all along.

Of those, the X-Files and nBSG probably have to rank as the worst final seasons for a show, primarily because TPTB had no fucking clue how to close all their loose ends.

1. nBSG
2. X-Files
3. Heroes
4. Lost

I wonder how others would rank them...

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I never watched X-Files or Heroes, but I enjoyed the final runs of nBSG and Lost immensely. Both stayed true to the mythos that were set up in earlier seasons. Many people disagree with that, but the clues were there all along.

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All that the final season of Lost proved was the writers were just stringing everybody along when they said early on that they had learned from other botched shows and were avoiding the problems associated with them. They ultimately revealed they had no idea how to pull everything together(Dharma, the voices, Claire's possession, Walt's importance, Aaron's supposed importance, the Smoke Monster, the Drawing on the Hatch, the purpose of the vaccination and the list could go on and on). All they had been doing is throwing everything into the mix plotwise with no idea how to pay them off and they were nothing more than cool plot devices or dangling plot threads. In the end it was just a hot mess that year where the characters just were moved around from camp site to camp site in order to drag out the show.

Same for BSG and its hokey notions of Love(only love can produce a hybrid child) which unfortunately found its way into shows like Fringe. Not to mention the pointless Baltar cult, the waste of Six as nothing more than a love plot device, the lame love triangle among Tighe/Ellen/Six, the cheap way out of the baby not being Tyrol's son, the meaning of the Opera House vision etc etc

Well we still dont know Alcatraz's fate yet, but the odds are not very good right now.

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There had been rumors that Fringe would air in the fall and then Alcatraz in midseason on friday for next season. However I doubt this since Alcatraz's numbers on monday were already low, at least Fringe was pulling in 1.9-2.0 demo before it was moved.

Well, I'm glad it's renewed. I'm glad that FOX is giving them the chance to finish telling the story instead of chopping it with no real conclusion.

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I used to feel that way but after a slew of really disappointing crappy endings I've now moved into the camp thinking that a cancellation is a good thing for a tv show these days allowing it to avoid the weak endings so many shows have--The X-Files, LOST, nBSG, Heroes etc.

I'd much rather be left thinking that the writers had a plan but never got to carry it out because of cancellation rather than realizing that the writers actually had no idea what they were doing despite all the promises to the contrary.

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That's also an advantage to episodic series. If there's no definite ending, then it's left to the viewer's imagination. One can imagine that the characters are still out there somewhere, still going on with their lives....

DS9 is the only series I can think of that actually had a solid final season and pulled together a series worth of pieces together in a smart satisfying way--where even if it was done on the fly it made sense ultimately in how it all came together.

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It's already been said, but Babylon 5 really had the best ending of any drama series (Newhart had the best ending of any comedy series).

The next one absolutely has to be the last season. They've kinda butchered the show. I still love it, but it's unrecognizable now from the show that hooked me.

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It's a totally different show now, that's for sure, but towards the latter half of this season, it at least began to feel a bit more like Fringe of old. But I DO miss the original versions of the characters (though Peter has remained the constant in this show - he's like the Desmond of Fringe!)

Although I'm not expecting it with only 13 eps next year, I wish they would touch upon what happened to Sam Weiss and where he went, and more about how the damn machine was built in the first place.

I had barely been hanging in just to see how the show ended. I'm not a classy person, I'm afraid I'd probably watch a train wreck too. But the dispiriting news that we're going to be jerked around for fourteen or fifteen more hours finished me off. I skipped Fringe last night, in favor of Netflixing Enterprise.

I've never seen this show, but heard good things. As some of you may know from my comments in other sections of the board, parallel universe stories are my favorite type of sci-fi stories, and the thought of an entire show devoted to that is interesting (I'm still disapointed that SLIDERS turned into shit as fast as it did).

Anyway, I almost bought the existing season sets of FRINGE last week, but held off because of the possibility of season three being the last, I figured it would only be a matter of time before a complete series set was released. Now I'm thinking if such a set is released, it'll be another year down the road.

So my question is this: are the current DVD sets worth getting, or should I just watch the show online, something I don't enjoy much, I'd rather see what I'm watching on my big screen, and I don't want to waste money on the individual sets if a complete series edition is released next year (and yeah, I know it's too soon for news of that, I'm just going on how past shows have been released).

So, FRINGE fans, tell me, is this show worth an investment, or should I wait for the big set we all know will (eventually) be released?

^^
Although I haven't seen it, judging from what I've read, you might find the Canadian-South African co-production* Charlie Jade to be interesting.

*I think I got that right...

On the subject of Fringe on home video, have other Bad Robot series had extra features when they received a complete series release? That might be a good barometer if you should buy the season sets now, or wait for the complete series in a year or so.